For alien curiosity-seekers

Jimmy Kimmel had the president on his nightly talk show several days ago.  While visiting with the president, Kimmel asked the president an area 51 question.

All former presidents have outright denied that alien life exists.  Obama's reaction was different.  He didn't deny aliens existed.  The problem is that Kimmel's show is supposed to be entertainment where people relax and laugh at people's funny experiences or at jokes told.  So, when Obama made statements about ETs, this context made it difficult to discern the meaning of the president's remarks.

Obama's  three statements were:
1) The aliens won't let that happen - to reveal all their secrets.
2) They exercise strict control over us.
3) I can't reveal anything.

One of the best ways to tell the truth without lying, is to tell something straightforwardly in a context where it sounds absurd.  Of course, it is really not.  So, three times the president told the truth, but it sounded absurd.  One can hear the audience laughing in the background.  They didn't believe it.

The most telling piece of evidence is the answer to the question Kimmel asked.  He said if he were to ever be elected president that he would go through all the files on Area 51 and UFOs to find out what happened.  Then he asked the president, "Did you do that?"  Jokingly, Obama said that that was the reason Kimmel would never be president.  Eveyone laughed.  Then shockingly, Obama said that aliens would not let that happen.

Kimmel was talking about Area 51 and UFOs.  Obama used the words aliens.  People who write essays, novels, and research worry about variation of terms, but in spoken language, that is not the primary concern.  Redundancy of terms is the usual rule in spoken language, that is, the second conversant repeats the term(s) of the lead conversant when it is his turn to elaborate in the conversation.  Some people don't, but most do.  Obama didn't.

The reason?  Maybe he wanted to cut through the chase and not play the game of continuing the very light-hearted chatter about Area 51 and UFOs.  He uses the word alien so that they could move quickly through the segment, bring it to an early end, and move on.  Maybe, Obama wanted to say the word alien so that in the joking context of the show, he could tell the truth, make it sound absurd, and move on without further prompting more questions from Kimmel.

Or maybe, he assumed Kimmel was talking of aliens.  Many other kinds of activities happen at area 51. Hovercraft is merely one of them.  In addition, it is only rumored that aliens have been kept at Area 51.  Obama could have left the whole discussion in the realm of rumors and responded very nebulously.  He also could have hedged and deferred to sensitive information the government keeps.   But he didn't.  He was straightforward from start to finish, ending with "I can't reveal that."  The obvious meaning of that statement is that there is something to reveal.

If I were advising someone on truth value, I would say the truth was told.  But, since the forum was Jimmy Kimmel Live, a not-so-serious talk show, the hunt for alien life will continue.